That Little Timer, Those Three Words
by aschenblume
Summary: Arty/OC, Don't own Arty, wish I flippin' did though! This is just a one-shot, not much going on and I might write the background for it some other time. LEMON. Very descriptive lemon, too! R&R, Comments are love.


Artemis Fowl FF/S.C.

Reflections of the computer screen flickered across his mirrored sunglasses, the now eighteen-year-old boy clicking and typing with a speed almost inhuman.  
A pit-pat of someone of a slight frame walking up the stairs echoed into the roomful of humming and whirring machinery, but the boy knew who was there. He had seen it on the surveillance screens.

"A…Artemis?" Came a quiet, feminine voice from outside, followed by a turning of the door handle.

"Come in," he said, in his smooth, gilded voice. Though Artemis' voice never faltered nor gave him away, he swivelled in his chair, snatching up two guns of fairy technology, and pointed them at the door.

The door clicked open, and fingertips curled around the edge of it. Artemis heard her gulp.

"You've been in there ages.. What gives?"

He did not lower his weapon or tear his eyes from the door. "Did Butler not tell you to give me peace while I …think?"

"Yes, but I thought you might want some company," she replied, possibly even quieter than before. She had opened the door a bit as she spoke, and Artemis could see her hopeful face. Psychoanalysing her body language, tone of voice, use of words…

"You mean you were lonely," he concluded. Only now did he lower his weapons and place them on the side, still in reach, and remove the mirrored sunglasses. "Very well. You may come in. Though I tell you now I am not very much in means of enterta--"

He was cut off by the barrel of a gun pressed against his forehead. That kind of proximity to a loaded gun with the safety off does tend to bring one to a screeching halt.

Thoughts and theories raced through his mind, and he was silent for a good ten seconds.

"Butler sent you?" It seemed the logical answer. _It would also mean she cannot shoot to kill. _

She nodded, somewhat reluctantly. "Not meant to tell you. Though he said you were getting a bit slack in your defences. Should have called Butler the moment you saw I wasn't with him."

"My flaw - I trust you too much."

She snorted indignantly, all traces of the previous put-on nerves disintegrating. "And yet you still held a gun - no, _two_ guns - when I came knocking."

"Would you rather I not and then end up being killed by an impostor or look-alike?"

"No," she admitted. "Keep your foot _away_ from that." She added firmly, eyes not straying from his.

_Keep her talking, _thought Artemis. "What's your objective then? You can't just stand around for ages."

"No, I can't. But that sort of is the objective. See, this is as much a test for me as you. We both know you will escape eventually, I'm just trying to last as long as possible. Oh, and try not to come out the other side of this _too_ badly singed."

On her words, she lifted her shoulder and twisted her hip, result of which was to lift her t-shirt and show a stopwatch clipped to her waistband …and also show half of a tanned, toned abdomen. Artemis looked at the former and almost involuntarily found himself glancing at the latter. He snapped himself out of his reverie sharply and violently - why on Earth and Haven had he looked?! And _why oh why_ was he feeling… never mind. He banished the idea from his head before it could manifest, re-concentrated his wondering thoughts, and tried to distract her once again. "You're right though. I have got a way of getting out of this."

"What?! In just under a minute?" She gaped at him, then shrugged. "They don't call you a criminal mastermind for nothing, Artemis."  
Lots of people had called him by his first name - heavens, he even shared it with his father - but when she said it, it sent a shiver down his spine, and it sounded so much more… _special._

_Stop with the corny stuff, Artemis! Get a grip, man! You aren't going to let someone a whole year your junior, and a girl, get the better over you._

He smiled slyly. "You may as well give up now."

"No way. I still have the upper hand. This is very well thought through, Artemis my hostage. Butler is out accompanying your father, Juliet is out shopping with your mother and the twins. None of them are due to be returning until around six. It is now twelve. I have a gun pressed to your forehead - loaded, might I add - and there is no surveillance. Who surveys the surveillance room?"

Artemis nodded. It made sense.

"But," he said, and she braced herself for the worst. "You didn't anticipate something else, Amy my dear. A possibly painful something else."

This shouldn't have, but it threw her completely. "H-how? I checked _everything_." He could feel her fear shaking the gun ever so slightly – how shocking it didn't quite occur to her he'd risk trying to bluff it. In truth, Artemis didn't have a trick. Even if you don't hold the cards, act like you do.

"Obviously not," he continued, whispering for effect, smiling that vampiric smile of his - flashing his incisors - that gave Amy goosebumps.

"Stand up! NOW!" She snapped, getting desperate, stepping back but not taking her gaze from him.

Obediently, he stood up… and took slow steps toward Amy, smiling all the while.  
"Stop! St-stop! I said STOP! Stop or.. or I'll shoot!" she struggled to remain in control, hands shaking. She was stuck in his den. A place which he most likely knew inside and out. A pawn for him to play with. She genuinely feared him. Who wouldn't?  
"No, you won't. You don't know what I have that is so amazing up my sleeve, and you'd not shoot me out of curiosity."

"Stop! …stop… st-.."she trailed off as he took a last step towards her, and she realised he had her trapped as her thighs collided with a table behind her. Artemis leaned forward, not taking his eyes from hers. She didn't want to have any contact between them, and consequently Amy was forced to lean back too. But because of the table she lost her balance and had to put a hand down, leaving only one with the gun - which wasn't even pointed at Artemis any more.

The height difference between them was only around a few inches - two or three, perhaps - but now it just seemed all the more obvious as he towered over her.

She frowned. "If y-you were going to d-do something, w-why not s-sooner?" She stuttered.  
Artemis grinned like a shark, putting his hands on the desk either side of her, (twitching the safety on as he went, of course) leaning forward to whisper in her ear.

"Now where is the _fun_ in that?" His breath tickled her cheek as he chuckled quietly and coldly, prising the gun from her frozen hands. "Besides, you're dispensable. Who would notice you were missing? Your family would think you are with me, doing your job, and my family - plus Butlers - would think you had gone home."

Amy fought down an involuntary squeak of fear, as she noticed that the gun was also no longer in her possession. This sparked only another frosty laugh.  
"See, you have helpfully reminded me of this fact - I was going to wait before I killed you, but this seems to be the opportune moment.  
"I do believe you just dug your own grave."

She looked up at him with her green, fearful eyes and he instantly realised how this compromising position would seem to an onlooker; Artemis pressing her against the table and wall, between her legs, and in surprising proximity to her. That realisation slammed into him harder than a troll on speed.

She seemed to notice it simultaneously, as her eyes widened. Artemis had been busy grave-digging too.

Genius or not, an eighteen-year-old hormonal teenager being supplied with those kind of thoughts was bound to have a reaction. _And that reaction, _thought Artemis bitterly, _is an erection. Oh, the shame._

The tension between them was crackling, their bodies pressed together. Obviously, her eyes had widened in noticing that fact which took him considerably longer..

[Amy's POV]

_What on Earth…has he got a gun in his pocke--? Oh my __**holy lemon scented vanilla flavoured turkey. **__He's got a… a… I can't even think it!_

Normally, this would have been hilarious. But seeing Arty so lost was disheartening. Clearly this hadn't happened too often before. He looked a bit.. Pale. Well, paler than his usual. That's what you can expect, though, with all the blood rushes to a different part of the anatomy.

[End Amy's POV]

Annoyed with himself, and not daring to look down and draw attention there, he scrutinized her face. It was then she decided to bite her lip. Artemis stifled a groan. Book characters never had this kind of problem, or movie stars!

_Okay, let's finish that earlier sentence. Why is she so damn __**arousing?!**_

For probably the only second time in his life, he acted on impulse. He kissed her.

It quickly became a deeper kiss, because of Artemis' obvious reason, and because Amy had loved him as soon as she got to know him.

One hand of his ran down her side sensually, down her thigh and to the back of her knee.

Their lips parted as he did so, Amy already reduced to gasping with her eyes closed, chest heaving heavily. He smiled - now she was feeling as he was.

He pulled up his arm, and as it was behind her knee he could easily lift her onto the empty desk. And as if it needed to be easier, her knees were about to buckle anyway.

Their lips collided again, and Amy had to lock her arms around the nape of his neck for balance. She also wrapped her legs around his waist, pressing against him, which caused him to moan. Then promptly frown.

"W-what are you doing to me?" He asked huskily, their foreheads pressed together, already a film of sweat covering their skin from the heated kissing. Artemis wound his arms around her waist and reached for a hidden panel in the wall. "I.. want to sh-show you something."

"Can't it wait?" She barely whispered.

"No," He said bluntly and smiled. The smile that got them in this in the first place.

Pushing the one centimetre square panel with his index finger, they were swivelled with a panelled wall into a bedroom.

She blinked. "Oh."

"Where were we.." Artemis murmured seductively in her ear, sending tremors down her spine, making her close her eyes again in ecstasy.

Lifting her up and kissing her again, he walked to the bed but stopped, conscience catching up with him, though he had tried – oh how he had tried! - to outrun it.

"What?" Amy asked, looking deeply into his confused, aged eyes, helpless in his arms.

"We'll ..regret this later," he said lamely.

She pulled herself up to him, now to whisper in his ear. "Do it for me, Arty. Do it for _yourself._ Just this once, forget about being a genius. Forget about the rest of the world. Just do what feels natural. ..Please, Arty."

He returned his gaze to her, frowning in indecision as she continued, blinking back tears. "I.. I love you."

Artemis couldn't have not kissed her if he tried, laying her down in the middle of the double bed. Not once did her stop kissing her, frowning at the lust that was pulling him like a magnet, so now he was hovering over her with his hands either side of her head for stability.

Amy's hands slid down from behind his neck, undoing the buttons on his shirt, and he broke the kiss to shrug it off.

Since Artemis had returned, he had resolved not to simply be brains from then on, so he had enlisted the help of Butler to do nightly training. In Amy's eyes it had certainly paid off.

He swooped down to kiss her again, and she placed her delicate fingers on his chest, and slowly inched them down to his belt, where she traced the top all the way around his waist, getting him to inhale sharply.

Artemis' brain was going haywire, so in the end he had decided not to listen to it. Kissing her briefly on the lips again, he trailed kisses along her jaw, down her neck, nibbling her collar bone.

Amy moaned, and he felt her other hand flutter helplessly to his shoulders as she arched her back against him involuntarily.

He laughed a low laugh, and resumed kissing her, too much of a gentleman (coward) to remove her shirt. He felt her shift underneath him, and he looked down just in time to see a shirt get flung to the floor.

Artemis couldn't help but let his eyes wonder over her semi-naked form (save underwear) hungrily, not believing anything in the world could be more beautiful, until she blushed.

His hand touched her stomach gently and she shivered and smiled, eyes closed. Artemis watched her face and didn't believe the situation he was in. This was _not_ normal Fowl behaviour - whatever happened to _aurum est potestas_, Gold is power? Not love.

Amy took the hesitation as a signal, and she tugged at his belt, undoing it with a faint click.

He couldn't hold back a gasp, and he felt his arms weaken.

Slowly, oh so _painfully, teasingly_ slowly, she undid the button on his trousers, and tugged down the zip, blushing again as the sound broke the only other sounds. Heavy breathing.

"Oh.. oh god.." Artemis breathed, at loss for words, shuddering as her fingertips brushed sensually over his lower abdomen.

She giggled childishly. "Does Master Fowl like what Amy is doing?"  
"D-definitely," He choked out. "But I'm g-going to collapse if no blood gets t-to my head soon.."

She squirmed underneath him for a few seconds, presumably taking off her clothes in the very dim light.

Artemis gulped. Did she know he was a… a…

Was she? "Question."

"Hmm?"

"Are you a… virgin?" He blushed as he said it.

"Y-yes. You?" She answered reluctantly – but guilt secretly tugged at her heartstrings for lying.

"Surprisingly, yes." he said, half-heartedly trying to crack a joke and calm the simmering atmosphere. She laughed… half-heartedly.

Her eyes now were quite a sight to behold - they'd gotten somehow darker.. Lustful, even…

"Arty…" she murmured, not having to reach far to tangle one hand in his raven hair, other hand on his shoulder. He kissed her again, tongues swirling in a dance before he broke it off.

"Are…are you sure?"

She smiled up at him though she doubted he could see her that much. "Yes."

Amy tugged on his silk boxers, coaxing them down his legs, him still crouched over her protectively, and he removed them fully.

Artemis lowered himself into the space between her legs, giving her one last chance to back down.

However, when he opened his mouth to protest in stealing her innocence, she simply covered his mouth with hers, and his hips involuntarily bucked - just a few inches - eliciting a cry of mixed pleasure and pain from Amy. "I'm sorry," he mumbled, a roaring in his ears he futilely tried to control, eyes watching her expression carefully.

"It's okay.. Just one s-sec.." She responded, strained voice, not laying back down fully, but continuing to keep on hand on his shoulder as if holding on for dear life. "Uh.. Idea, just don't stop 'till you're in. Quickly.. It might not.. Hurt as much.." She winced as he moved slightly.

Artemis nodded. Well, what could he say? He decided to calm her down a bit first, and placed one hand on the small of her back, tracing small circles and making her purr against him.

"One, two… three."

She whimpered, biting her lip and throwing her head beck to stop herself crying out. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes, one escaping down her cheek for Artemis to kiss away. He didn't understand half of what he was doing, but he was content with that for once. "Amy ..you okay?"

"Yeah."

"I read ..somewhere tha--"

"Arty," She mumbled warningly, adjusting herself again.

"-it only hurts at first." This gained a frown from Amy - what kind of things did he read?!

She lay back down, exhaling a breath she didn't know she was holding, keeping one hand gripped on his shoulder, the other on the headboard.

She squirmed for a bit, getting comfy, making him inhale sharply. Then she felt more than saw his hand breezing down her stomach, to rub at her sweet spot. She gasped, blinking rapidly as he massaged her, moaning deeply. He sped up and pulled back and pushed again. Slowly, he sped up, building up a steady rhythm.

_What are you doing? You idiot, she's probably just pretending she's enjoying it so as not to hurt your ego. Who do you think you are? How could you be so rash?? Why would you even--  
__**Shut up.**_  
Artemis told himself firmly when he saw how her eyes squeezed shut, mouth open in a small 'o' with oh-so-kissable lips as she moaned and moaned his name – how could you fake that show of glorious ecstasy? He revelled in it, in how much pleasure he could bring her from such simple movements.

Amy was now thoroughly enjoying the experience, hissing 'yes' and his name frequently. And he was ashamed to admit, but it really turned him on. He had to move his hand in order to concentrate, and he saw her face fall infinitesimally – it didn't stay so cutely grumpy for long, as he resumed the steady rocking of her world.

They could both feel it building - like a shaken-up can of fizzy drink, bubbling and buzzing. They felt an indescribable heat growing too, their bodies slick with sweat.

Automatically, her body moulded to fit his, moving in time with him, which made Artemis groan gruffly and tremble in ecstasy.

She reached her climax before he did, calling out his name as she clutched at the headboard and his shoulder, whimpering and kissing him. He watched her as she came, deliciously writhing beneath him. Just seeing that look of pleasure on her face sent him over the edge as he cried her name too.

He held her close as they both shuddered and shook, and they collapsed in a sweaty tangle of limbs, still riding their highs as they drifted off. He rolled over, pulling her securely with him and she lay her head on his chest.

~~-~~

Amy woke up, opening her eyes to see herself lying partially on the chest of a well-sculpted man, in a room with no doors or windows [save a simulated one]. She went to sit up, but a pain shot through her, and then resumed dull throbbing. Ah. She had forgotten. And his arms were still securely around her.

Trying to get out of here without his help was clearly out of the question, and a glance at her watch told her the time was 3:30pm, and she had just had the best nap ever.

She wondered if it would be the right time to wake him up. What if he went back to normal Artemis?  
Amy tilted her head back to look at his face, expecting to see that of a sleeping fallen angel. But he was wide awake, gaze boring a hole through the wall. She coughed quietly.

"Arty?"

"Hrmm?" He murmured, not tearing his gaze away.

He didn't say anything else. _All right then.._

She pushed herself back, and he tightened his grip on her. That got his attention. But rather than being aggressive, or spiteful, he was apologetic.

"Sorry, are you okay?" His eyes smouldered, usual icy blue now seeming like it had more.. Depth to it. Unseen to anyone else but her.

She snuggled back up to him comfortably. "Not really."

A few seconds of calm silence followed. They had nowhere to rush to, no one to hide from, and no one after their necks for once. It was definitely peaceful.

"You okay, Arty?" she asked.

"Yes. Just been thinking."

"Are you ever not thinking?" She laughed quietly, but it wasn't forced. Their hushed conversation flowed smoothly.

"Starting to think I wasn't before…"

Amy recoiled as if stung. "You regret what you did not three hours ago?!"

He started, "No! Heavens, no, come here Amy." He wrapped his arms back around her, kissing her forehead.

"…What you thinking 'bout then?"

"A few hours ago… Something you said…" Artemis furrowed his brow in concentration. "You said you loved me."

"Love, present tense," she smiled sorrowfully. "Even… Even if you don't love me back."

He was confused. He had no idea what love in this way felt like. Did he love her back?

"How do you know if you love someone?" he asked as casually as possible.

She thought about it for a moment, choosing her words.

"You put them before yourself, and you care about whether they are okay all the time." _Check,_ he ticked off mentally. _I always wonder if she's okay, and I ask her frequently._ "You think about them most of the time. It pains you not being near them.." _Check. Check again… whoa, I do! I never noticed it much.. But that's the reason why.. Go figure, huh?_

"What are you do--?!" he asked as she turned her head to kiss him, and this time it was a sweeter, less rushed kiss.

"And just how they taste and look and smell is _always_ divine to you." She finished, with eyes closed and a gentle smile playing her lips.

Artemis pushed a lock of hair out of her face, wanting so badly to say it back to her, to mean it, knowing that he could tick all the boxes.

"Just watching you when you concentrate used to be the closest I could get to you . Had to keep it strictly business. It pained me but it was a delicious sort of longing, that I enjoyed loving you. Yes, my fingers ached to be laced with yours," She laced their hands. " My skin ached to touch yours." They pressed closer together.

"And your lips cried to do this," he finished for her, tangling one hand in her hair, and kissing her, pulling her to his chest and almost crushing her.

Although Artemis _had_ been a virgin, didn't mean he hadn't kissed a couple of girls. They stopped, breathing slightly quickened.

"How did you-?"

"I love you. There, I said it. I love you, Amy!!" He smiled, there was no way three words could beat a Fowl.

Amy smiled back at him. "Really? No hoax?"

"No hoax."

"Thank god. I'd have had to murder you if it was."

She still had her bra on - they hadn't bothered removing it - and it was irritating her. "Hey, could you just unclip my b-- thanks."  
"Wondered when you would ask."

"Yeah? Sometimes I think you're too clever for your own good."

She commented, trying to remove the lacy black piece of lingerie without moving too far from Artemis. "And I think I know you quite well, too. I mean, we have known each other for what, four years?"

He raised a hand and shielded his face.

"Oh, come off it. I know you want to look anyway and I need a hand."

He helped her throw it off, blushing at her nakedness. She caught the blush. "What?"

"I just can't believe I hold such a beautiful being in my arms." He noticed red lines across her back, gently touching one with his finger. She mumbled an ouch.

"Shouldn't have worn the bra…" She continued muttering.

Chewing on his lip, he gently rolled her over and placed both hands on her shoulders and rubbed, slowly moving his thumbs in circles. Amy smiled, closing her eyes. "Ooh, where did you learn that?"

"Book," he murmured, eyes flitting over her perfect back, fragile and delicate. "I read a lot."

"Well, certainly a good thing-- Mm…" She got cut off mid-sentence by him pressing multiple pressure points. "Oh.. How the.. From just reading a… oh, fuck it." Amy gave up trying to make an understandable sentence as the tingles spreading like electricity over her skin made her simply run out of breath as soon as she had gulped some in.

After a few minutes of relaxing her, the pain both there and between her legs forgotten, Artemis seemed to have lulled her into a trance-like state. Truth was, of course the pain on her back was gone, he had '_Healed'_ it with remaining magic he stole from Holly. Of course it felt like electricity, the blue sparks had entrancingly danced over her skin before sinking into the welt marks.

"Oh and Artemis?"

"Mm?"

"I love you."

"I love you too," he said, and saw the stopwatch on the floor. He grinned crookedly and swelled with that glorious emotion called love. "I love you too."


End file.
